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Synteny and Evolution

Synteny and Evolution

John H. Renwick first coined the term “synteny” in 1971, which refers to the genes present on the same chromosomes, even if they are not genetically linked. The species with common ancestry tend to show conserved syntenic regions. Therefore, the concept of synteny is nowadays used to describe the evolutionary relationship between species.
Around 80 million years ago, the human and mice lineages diverged from the common ancestor. During the course of evolution, the ancestral chromosome underwent...

Gene Duplication and Divergence

Gene Duplication and Divergence

The seminal work of Ohno in 1970 popularized the idea of gene duplication and divergence. DNA sequence comparison studies reveal that a large portion of the genes in bacteria, archaebacteria, and eukaryotes was generated by gene duplication and divergence, indicating its critical role in evolution.
The duplicated copies of the gene are called Paralogs. Paralogs with similar sequences and functions form a gene family. Across several species, a large number of gene families are characterized.

Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons

Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons

Genome comparison is one of the excellent ways to interpret the evolutionary relationships between organisms. The basic principle of genome comparison is that if two species share a common feature, it is likely encoded by the DNA sequence conserved between both species. The advent of genome sequencing technologies in the late 20th century enabled scientists to understand the concept of conservation of domains between species and helped them to deduce evolutionary relationships across diverse...

Eukaryotic Evolution

Eukaryotic Evolution

The endosymbiont theory is the most widely accepted theory of eukaryotic evolution; however, its progression is still somewhat debated. According to the nucleus-first hypothesis, the ancestral prokaryote first evolved a membrane to enclose DNA and form the nucleus. Conversely, the mitochondria-first hypothesis suggests that the nucleus was formed after endosymbiosis of mitochondria.
Contrary to the endosymbiont theory, the eukaryote-first hypothesis proposes that the simpler prokaryotic and...

Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?

Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?

The genomes of eukaryotes are punctuated by long stretches of sequence which do not code for proteins or RNAs. Although some of these regions do contain crucial regulatory sequences, the vast majority of this DNA serves no known function. Typically, these regions of the genome are the ones in which the fastest change, in evolutionary terms, is observed, because there is typically little to no selection pressure acting on these regions to preserve their sequences.
In contrast, regions which code...

Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?

Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?

The genomes of eukaryotes are punctuated by long stretches of sequence which do not code for proteins or RNAs. Although some of these regions do contain crucial regulatory sequences, the vast majority of this DNA serves no known function. Typically, these regions of the genome are the ones in which the fastest change, in evolutionary terms, is observed, because there is typically little to no selection pressure acting on these regions to preserve their sequences.
In contrast, regions which code...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Using Phylogenetic Analysis to Investigate Eukaryotic Gene Origin

Using Phylogenetic Analysis to Investigate Eukaryotic Gene Origin

Published on: August 14, 2018

Evolutionary history reconstruction for Mammalian complex gene clusters.

Yu Zhang¹, Giltae Song, Tomás Vinar

¹Center for Comparative Genomics and Bioinformatics, Penn State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA. yuzhang@stat.psu.edu

Journal of Computational Biology : a Journal of Computational Molecular Cell Biology

|August 4, 2009

Summary

Researchers developed a new algorithm to reconstruct gene cluster evolution using human genome data. This method aids in understanding large-scale evolutionary events and can be extended for comparative primate genomics.

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Lineage Tracing and Clonal Analysis in Developing Cerebral Cortex Using Mosaic Analysis with Double Markers (MADM)

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A Bioinformatics Pipeline for Investigating Molecular Evolution and Gene Expression using RNA-seq

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Published on: May 28, 2021

Area of Science:

Genomics
Evolutionary Biology
Bioinformatics

Background:

Gene clusters evolving from single progenitors via segmental duplications pose challenges for complete human genome sequencing.
These clusters are crucial for functional innovation but complicate sequence assembly and computational analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a method for reconstructing the evolutionary history of gene clusters using solely human genomic data.
To enable estimation of the tempo of large-scale evolutionary events within human gene clusters.
To propose an extension for simultaneous reconstruction of orthologous gene cluster histories across multiple primates.

Main Methods:

Development of a novel algorithm for evolutionary history reconstruction of gene clusters.
Utilizing human genomic sequence data as the primary input.
Proposing an extension for multi-primate comparative analysis.

Main Results:

The algorithm successfully reconstructs evolutionary histories of gene clusters from human genomic data.
The method allows for the estimation of the tempo of large-scale evolutionary events in these clusters.
The proposed extension facilitates comparative genomic studies in primates.

Conclusions:

The developed algorithm provides a robust approach to studying gene cluster evolution.
This method enhances our understanding of genome evolution and functional innovation.
The extension supports more comprehensive primate comparative sequencing and evolutionary reconstruction.